Well, the time has finally come to attend CEH class! I'm really looking forward to taking the class, which is set to begin in about 3 weeks.

Question -What kind of prep work would you recommend doing before starting the class? I'd like to take the exam either immediately following the class or give myself a week to do touch-up study.

I have done a bit of playing with Metasploit (metasploit unleashed), I know Linux well enough to get by, lots of Windows admin work, almost done with CCNA #2 (had ccna a few years ago that expired), lots of college-level coursework in OOP like Java and .NET C#, played with perl/python/vbscript/powershell/ruby. I'd say that's pretty well rounded, though not much of the above is extremely deep.

So what do you think? Any advice on topics to brush up on before attending CEH class?

"Live as though you would die tomorrow, learn as though you would live forever."

What format of the class are you taking? Will they be providing you with the official courseware books?

If so, I would highly recommend asking the training center for your books in advance. If you have the time, read through them before the class. This way nothing will be new to you (from the course) other than what the instructor may add. This will give you a great head start.

yatz wrote:I believe they will be providing official coursework. The training is through Global Knowledge, 5-day class. I'll ask about getting the books early.

Thanks guys!

Definitely get the books early. If it's an Official EC-Council course, you're going to be overwhelmed by the courseware. They're going to hand you a cardboard box that weighs 40 lbs. (at least that's how i got mine).

Review it and you might want to have a look at things like the CEH Study Guide [http://www.amazon.com/Certified-Ethical-Hacker-Study-Guide/dp/0470525207/ref=pd_sim_b_2] as well because it's a much more concise and clear explanation of things I think you'll find.

hayabusa wrote:Yes, and know that the official stuff is mostly slides / screenshots, so you'll want to do some additional review / study before class, so as not to waste too much time in slide review...

It actually might be safer to stay away from the courseware. LOL j/k sorta. Definitely make sure you don't get too wrapped up in it (their courseware) because even though they've slimmed the courseware down a little, there's A LOT of unnecessary information. You want to make sure you know things like netcat, nmap, nessus and things like that.

Just my $0.02 cuz I know it can be daunting regardless of how much people say the exam is easy.

In case you come from a technical background, such as Ethical Hacking. Recently I saw a "training video" (from a recognized provider), which prepares the viewer for the CEH examination, and suddenly the presenter said: "If you're expecting more advanced stuff, such as writing perl scripts, or doing c++ programming for developing buffer overflows, or expecting some kind of programming to come up with an 0day.."

Basically, CEH does not dive into that as far as I know, so you should be good as those topics are pretty much the hardest, well, it depends on your area of knowledge, but generally they are considering the hardest imho.

I asked my contact at Global Knowledge about the instructor/materials. It looks like yes they will be using the official coursework. However, he could not provide me with the instructor info. I was told the instructor can change up to the day before class starts so the course is essentially listed as instructor TBA until the day of.

Also I asked about getting the books early and he just said no (in a nice way). I do have v6 coursework that I looked through about half, so maybe that's enough.

"Live as though you would die tomorrow, learn as though you would live forever."

I am taking CEH course at the end of Aug through InfoSec here in Colorado Springs. I'm excited since I paid for the class last yr but have had to push it off three times. Keeping fingers crossed I don't have to do it again.

I recommend that you push them for the instructor information, after all its the instructor that has to present the material in a way that students grasp both the theory and practical aspects of the CEH. If they hire an instructor that has never done any Real Pen Testing then you are going to get a theory delivered CEH 

Just my 2 cents to help you get the most for your bucks

Regards,

Wayne

"If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail"Abraham Maslow

yatz, is there any chance you can go above that individual with regards the courseware? I'm not recommending being disrespectful or anything but most of the training organizations I've dealt with will provide the courseware in advance as long as the course has been paid for (and generally with the understanding that if you cancel the class, you'll be charged for the courseware). I really think you'll benefit from accessing it in advance.

Also, Wayne and Bill are correct as far as instructor information. I've worked for multiple training organizations and although instructors do change from time to time, they a) don't change so frequently as to really make this an issue and b) generally have a limited number of instructors who teach the course so it can't really be that difficult. One thing you could always do is see if there's any chance you could get the instructor's contact information in advance of the class so you could ask some preliminary questions. We constantly had students coming to us prior to attending class asking for some extra preparatory information and it was really no problem. You could ask them a little about their background and experience.

Ultimately, if they won't give you any of that, you can wait until the day of class and pose that information yourself to the instructor if that's your only means of getting the information.